Meanwhile, in Portland, Oregon

[rusnak]

It seems as if it always freezes on 99/ I-5 between Eugene and Roseburg, I want to say. We buy trees from Washington and that area is sort of where the trucks will slide off the freeway.

I was in Portland a year and a half ago, and it was as if all of the bridges over the Columbia were shut down. That was not fun.

[Otter74]

As a long time resident of the Midwest, it is easy to laugh at this, and I do.

But as a good friend who lives in Portland points out, they don't get it often, the city doesn't have much snow-removal equipment, and there are hills everywhere. So I get it.

I was struck, when I was in either Seattle or Portland early this year (I can't remember which trip it was) that seemingly every third car had studded tires on it - not hard to tell, since you could hear them from 50 yards away.

Here in Chicago, Streets & San has hundreds of spreader/plow trucks and they squeegee the main streets curb-to-curb as soon as the snow starts falling. I get it why Portland can't do that. Still, it's fun to make fun of them!

[LakeCleElum]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

Same in the Seattle area. 1/2" shuts everything down.

To be (a little) fair, there are differences between Northwest snow and Mid-west snow (I'm originally from Minnesota)

- Northwest snow has a high moisture content, so it's mostly slimy slush. Much harder do drive than the cold, dry Midwest snow

-Nobody here knows how to drive in snow. They either carry on as normal, right into the ditch, or white-knuckle it at two miles an hour so everybody behind backs up into huge traffic jams.

-No level ground. You are either going uphill, or downhill. On slimy slush.

-No snow removal equipment. Sure, there are a couple plows, and a couple sanding trucks, that run 24 hours a day, but not near enough equipment to keep up.

Everything Dan Sez and: Since it doesn't snow much, 80% of the drivers are not prepared.....Consider driving a Mustang with bald tires uphill in wet snow/slush....Best driver in the world can't do it.

Yes, people do just abandon their cars in the road and walk home...I recall our city had closed a steep hill.......Barricades: ROAD Closed......Guy in a brand new Audi goes around the barricades and gets stuck.....Walks off.......It was hit 7 times by cars coming down the closed hill before I could get it towed....Very common.

[LWJ]

Slick as snot on Wednesday. I rescued an old guy with a jeep believe it or not. It was very dangerous. Poeple simply didn't have the right tires and technique.

Today? Fun. I took my son out to show him how to drift.

Good times. A snow day!

[jyl]

Came out at 1:15 am from seeing Rogue One. The streets are wet snow that has been packed down, barely melted, polished smooth and glossy by tires, and refrozen. You could skate on them, if you had ice skates. Very slick, hard to walk on, even with full snow tires I took the long way around the hills on our way home.

A friend got off work at midnight downtown, all buses stopped running long before the end of scheduled service, he was walking about three miles home, so we went and got him half way. Last night a friend stayed at my house because she couldnt get her car home, that car and another abandoned car are still at my house. Last weekend, during the ice, a lady who was babysitting my neighbors' kid got herself and the kid locked out of the house and they spent several hours ay my house until the parents got home. My son and his dance teachers are all performing in a Nutcracker ballet this weekend, we've been driving them in the Prius because I won't let my son drive on this and the teachers' car can't get around. Chome to think of it, that car is abandoned at my house too. It's been a weird week.

[petrolhead611]

We have the same problems in England when it snows, particularly in the southern part . Again, due to infrequency of snowfall and therefore lack of equipment to deal with. And also ignorant people in 4x4's with huge wheels and sports tyres thinking just because they have 4wd they can drive fast on the snow and then they try to go around a corner, or even stop, and whoaaaah bang crunch.

[cary]

Stupid ......................

But I do dig my 1.5 mile commute to work at Rothsport.
The 32 mile commute to my shop. Not so much ............ 25 degrees at sunrise.

[J P Stein]

2 snow events before Christmas are very unusual for the Portland area......never seen that for 40 years. Just hunkerdown and keep the fire lit as there is more coming........

[Don Ro]

Originally Posted by J P Stein

2 snow events before Christmas are very unusual for the Portland area......never seen that for 40 years. Just hunkerdown and keep the fire lit as there is more coming........

This was a few days prior to Christmas in 2008 (as I recall) in Gresham, OR.
No issue for me as I was born/raised in No. Dakota.
Brushed off the windows, into 4WD, & drove around to enjoy the heavy snowfall.
.
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